A new heat extraction system is now operable in the neck area of the Bridgeton Landfill, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday as it works with landfill owner Republic Services to install an isolation barrier intended to prevent an underground fire from coming into contact with nuclear waste material.
The underground fire has been burning since 2010 at the Missouri landfill, which is adjacent to the West Lake Landfill. West Lake contains waste from the former uranium production facility at Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis.
At the state’s request, Republic Services agreed to build the barrier in 2013, but plans stalled because the EPA did not have enough information on radioactive contamination in the area. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster denied Republic Services’ appeal against building the isolation barrier at Bridgeton in April, and the company has reached a settlement agreement with the EPA for the installation.
The heat extraction system, which serves as a fire deterrent, is located between the North Quarry and South Quarry portions of the Bridgeton Landfill. Future work includes installation of temperature monitors; an ethylene vinyl alcohol cover over the North Quarry portion of the Bridgeton Landfill; and use of inert gas injection, among other measures intended to prevent the underground fire from coming into contact with nuclear waste material. Total cost of EPA oversight associated with the entire project is estimated at $728,000.
The EPA has long been criticized for its 25-year management of the West Lake site, and lawmakers and residents have called for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take over. The U.S. Senate in February passed legislation that would transfer remediation authority of the site from EPA to the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. Members of the House of Representatives have introduced companion legislation, but the Corps has said it probably wouldn’t be able to clean up the site any faster than the EPA.
